News and Notes on the Nationals Minors from the perspective of the fan, sportswriter, and amateur scout

Good, Bad, Interesting… 2010 Regular-Season Final

Our final 2010 look at the leaders, trailers, and outliers in the Washington Nationals minor leagues

Our final 2010 look at the leaders, trailers, and outliers in the Washington Nationals minor leagues, with a focus on the level where the prospects shone the brightest, not counting some guy who made a tour for service-time reasons (*ahem*).

Author: Luke Erickson

Since 2009, Luke Erickson has been chief writer, editor, and bottle-washer of NationalsProspects.com. Potomac is his home base as a season-ticket holder, but he has visited every affiliate north of Florida at least once, with multiple trips to Hagerstown and Harrisburg.
View all posts by Luke Erickson

8 thoughts on “Good, Bad, Interesting… 2010 Regular-Season Final”

Some thoughts on another great list (man, you’ve been working overtime today!):
1) Poor Wilkie. Wilkamania looks like it’s on hold for at least one more year and he had an awful final outing for Syracuse.
2) Rooney really bummed me out this year by falling off a cliff. His demotion and Rhinehart’s demotion are sad but necessary contributions to Potomac’s playoff run. Thompson was frustrating this year. Wasn’t he at least a smidge better down the stretch? You like Roark better than Tatusko? Curious on that one, but I know “interesting” doesn’t necessarily mean better.
3) Leatherman was great for Potomac but he’s organizational depth. If he was the best story as a pitching arm at Potomac, that’s a concern for the pitching prospects in the organization. I guess AJ Morris has been a real disappointment this year. If Espinosa earned the best mention at Syracuse, could Rosenbaum get pitching honors for Potomac? Awesome focus on Norris’ RISP. Had no idea.
4) Hagerstown was a pitching graveyard by the end of the season I guess. Guess you’re down on Clegg or Demny but I can’t blame you for that. The Eury Perez lobby and the scouts are not going to be pleased with your JP Ramirez choice.
5) As always, defer to your knowledge on the Vermont, GCL, and DSL. Oduber had a lot of supporters and he went under the radar with the other overdrafts. Not strong in the few games he had at Hagerstown, but I hope he starts at Hagerstown instead of Vermont next year, especially with the other likely outfield promotions.

1) The Rule 5 is made for guys like Wilkie
2) Roark gets the nod based on age, Thompson was better in a couple of late-season starts, but not enough to erase the bad stretch
3) Rosenbaum is a great story, but the bulk of his good work was at Hagerstown. Espinosa gets the honor at Syracuse much because there was no other bat that fits the term of prospect. Leatherman was the most consistent pitcher under the age of 25, Alaniz was the best pitcher overall, but not a prospect.
4) Clegg and Demny both wilted in August. Perez had a great second half, but Ramirez was good all season long. That’s not a crack against Eury, but praise for Ramirez
5) These three levels anyone can snort “sample size” at my selection and be right. I wish I had some eyes down there, but I don’t and it’s too damn far for me to drive (unless it’s in mid-March)

Good stuff, Sue, and thanks for taking the time to defend. Be interesting to see what happens with Tatusko. Syracuse looks crowded next year to me, but there are still decisions to make with rotation and converting guys to relievers. It will be interesting to see how Ramirez and Perez get compared on the prospect lists over the offseason. Ramirez seems to have a lot of polish as a hitter. He should take a million fly balls in left in the offseason. I don’t know how you add the walk tool to Perez, and I don’t know how much of his success was Morganesque second half luck and how much was a genuine step forward.

Great job Sue,
1. Rooney I believe just needs a rest. After the death of his father last year he started well with PNats then dropped off in AA. Got married in the offseason then was called to replace Norrris in the AFL while he just got back from the honeymoon. Then starts in AA and hardly plays behind Solano then comes back to Pnats after Peacock breaks his finger/hand. Since being demoted has play on a regular basis and played well.
2. AJ Morris just needs to stay off the DL and he will be fine. His time in the pen has been victomized by bad, bad, bad defense. Not an excuse but just sayin.
3. Tom Milone should be talked about alot more based on almost 2 identical seasons.
4. D. Norris still seems lazy to me.
5. M. Burgess just needed a change of scenery.

Re: Wilkie — I think the ONLY reason Wilkie wasn’t brought up was they need the space on the 40 man and don’t need to expose him for another year.

Sue, Boomer Whiting is the ultimate in ‘interesting’. Don’t know what to make of this guy, maybe be a really interesting AAAA player for a long time.

This has been brought up before but those two guys we got for Guzman have both been impressive. I know the Rangers system is flush, but what did the Nats F.O. see that the Rangers didn’t. They helped propel Harrisburg to the playoffs for the first time in 8 years.

Wilkie was eligible for Rule 5 last year, partly the reason for his inclusion for the AFL last fall – to further gauge whether he was worthy of a 40 man roster spot. The same reason Kimball & Carr are on the AFL this year. Fully 1/3 the “prospects” in the AFL are in that category, aging border-line prospects that teams are giving a final look-see to see if they merit inclusion on the 40 man.

Wilkie was deemed “not” worthy, but was not picked, so stayed a Nat.

He would be eligible again this year.

I feel like I’m “cheating” posting here instead of NFA 😉 so here’s a link to Brian’s post last year on the Rule 5.